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Chapter 29: Twin Stars – August 23, 2025

“Where are you taking me tonight, Joon?” Eunji whispered.

“Why, out to sea, of course,” came his dulcet reply.  “Do you know, I haven’t gotten an evening alone with you in a long while…” 

He held her hand as they climbed into the boat.

She glanced up at the night sky.  No stars were visible yet.  She and Joon were still surrounded by the lights of Busan, especially those lighting up the pier.  But soon they would be out on the open water.  Headed for raw darkness.  Her favorite place to be with Joon.  The light of his star shone best in those murky depths.

As they seated themselves at the back of the boat, Eunji queried, “Joon, would you French braid my hair?”

She smiled as she recalled how he had watched YouTube videos to teach himself how to braid her hair for her when she was pregnant with Tae.  She had been bemoaning the fact that she still hadn’t been able to figure out how to French braid her own hair.  She’d admitted to Namjoon that his brother had once learned to plait her hair for her.  A few minutes later, Namjoon had risen to the challenge and begun searching YouTube for help.  He wasn’t about to be outshone by his baby brother. 

She winced as she remembered the hours Namjoon had practiced on her head.  Only true love would have caused her to endure that torture.  Though Joon had tried to be gentle, he had often tugged too hard on locks of her hair as he attempted to draw them in tight enough that the whole braid wouldn’t just fall apart when he was finished plaiting her hair.  Eventually, with a lot of practice, he had become quite skilled at braiding her hair.  He no longer hurt her scalp when he plaited it.  Now such an action brought her only comfort as she recognized all the little efforts Joon had made over the past few years to communicate his love to her.  And to make her feel cherished.

“Absolutely.  Here.  Come sit in front of me.” 

He was seated on the bench that lined the back of the boat.  Eunji scooted down to the floor in front of him. 

“Eunji, are you still happy helping your appa to run his companies?” he asked suddenly.

She would have turned and looked back up at him while she could still see his face in the lights of the pier, but he had already begun to plait her hair.

“I am.  It’s a lot keeping up with two tiny kiddos and all that paperwork.  And all those meetings,” she grumbled for a moment.  “But you helped me to find my passion, Joon.  I never knew I had a brain for business until you tutored me in your own business affairs.” 

She laughed suddenly.  “Appa was so relieved when he realized that he did have someone to leave his company with after all.  Nari, of course, was a tremendous help to him, but she’s got her hands full with her own appa’s success.  She and Naru both do.  Who knew back then that our appas’ companies would expand so quickly?”

Namjoon nodded.  “They are all flourishing now.”

Eunji sighed.  Then she commented, “I am blissfully happy at certain moments, Joon.”

“Not all the time?”

“No.  Not all the time.”

He frowned.  “Why not?”

She smiled.  “Because life isn’t perfect, Joon.  But I think with you it’s as perfect as it ever could have been.  And I revel in those moments – the ones you’ve afforded me – when it does feel absolutely perfect.”

“Like when?”

“Like when I’m staring into your eyes.  Or reveling in your kiss.  Or gazing down into Yoon’s sweet face.  Or laughing at one of Tiny Tae’s antics.  Those moments are just perfect.”

Namjoon had to agree.  “If it ever becomes too much – running the company and raising our babies – just tell me Eunji.  And we’ll hire some more help.”

“Honestly, Joon, hiring the nanny helped immensely.  Especially to keep Tae out of trouble!  But I still want to spend as much of my own time as I can raising our boys.  I love them so much!  And they’re already growing up so fast.  I can hardly believe that Yoon isn’t a baby anymore.

“But he was such a good baby.  He enabled me to take him with me everywhere in those early days.  No one ever noticed him when I took him into meetings with me when he was an infant.  Unless it was to coo over his cuteness,” she laughed. 

She continued, “And I’ve learned to delegate a lot.  We have a really good team of people working for us now.  I’ve been able to pass a lot of work on to them since Yoon was born.  I’m figuring out how to handle all my responsibilities and still leave time to enjoy our boys.  You seem to have figured it out too.”

He nodded.  “There’s nothing more important than our boys, Eunji.  After all, everything we’re building is for them.  Someday they will take over what our appas started.”

“Hmm.  Unless one of them decides to play the piano,” she murmured amusedly.

Namjoon laughed.  “Well…for sure, it’s not going to be Tae!  I’ve heard him play Yoongi’s baby grand.  No worries there!”

Eunji giggled.  “I have a feeling if anyone in our family is a virtuoso, it’s Yoon.  Perhaps he’ll follow in his uncle’s footsteps.”

Namjoon sighed.  “I suppose that’s what I get for naming him after your brother!”

“I’m sure it will all work out.  It did for all of us.”

“In every way,” Namjoon sighed.  “You discovered a love for the corporate world.  Yoongi got to pursue his passion for music while his lovely Nari helped to run your appa’s company until you could grow up and take over.  Even Tae has found happiness with Yun.”

“After a lot of turmoil,” Eunji mumbled.

Namjoon glanced sharply at her.  “Yeah.  But they’re happy now.”

She smiled.  “Very happy.  I’m so glad.”

“You don’t ever regret it, do you, Eunji?”  His heart was suddenly thumping along at an alarming rate.

“Regret what?”

“Choosing me.  Over Tae.”

“What?”  Her head whipped around as her eyes searched his in the growing darkness.  “Never!  Joon, I’m blissfully happy with you!”  She leaned towards him and embraced his lips passionately.  “Especially now that I’ve finally convinced you not to hold back,” she murmured against his lips.

“Well, I’m having to hold back now.  I’d unzip your dress for you if we were alone,” he whispered.

She grinned.  “Later tonight.  That’s a promise, right?”

Joon had unzipped many a dress for her over the past few years.  She laughed inwardly at her younger self for being so nervous about such an occurrence.  Only delight had followed the skimming of Joon’s fingers down her back as he had released her from those garments.  Nothing to fear at all.

They traveled into deepening darkness.  The sea breeze flowed past them cooling the air around them.  Stars began to fill the night sky surrounding them as their boat seemed to hang suspended in the midst of a vast, dark space.  Great lights appearing tiny twinkled down on them.  As they stared at the inky expanse of the heavens hanging over them, Namjoon spoke.

“Is it as amazing as you first thought it would be?  The raw darkness?  All those years ago when we first discussed coming out here?”

“No,” she murmured.

Why was his heart sinking?

“It’s even better.”  Her mellow voice warmed him.

“It is?”

“Mmhmm.  You know why?”

He shook his head.  She felt it and turned towards him.  Her breath flowed over his cheek as she elucidated her feelings.

“It’s because now I know I’m yours.  And you’re mine.  We were strangers when I spoke those words.  Or…at least, I thought we were.  I thought I was entering a marriage with a cold stranger who would never desire me.  I had no idea that a fire raged in your soul for me.  But I’ve been consumed by your heat many times now, Joon.  Now I know that even this darkness could never overwhelm me with its chill.  For I’m safe in your heated embrace.”

He responded to her words with a hot kiss.  Almost as though he was compelled to prove her right.  After several delightful moments during which Eunji began to wish they were alone, Namjoon murmured against her lips.

“I brought us a snack, Eunji.”

“You did?  What is it?”

He pulled out a big bag of turtle chips.  She grinned widely.  “Excellent.”

Curious, he glanced at her.  “What is?”

“Eat a couple, Joon.”

He acquiesced.  Then she leaned over and kissed him.  Deeply.

“Ah.  Just as I always thought.”

“What?”

She grinned.  “You taste like cinnamon now.”

He laughed.  But he was still puzzled.

“Do you remember the night we almost kissed when I was fifteen?”

Of course.  How could he forget it?  He had lived off that memory for four lonely years.

He bobbed his head.

“We ate turtle chips that night too.   I was just sure that if I kissed you, you would taste like cinnamon.  I kept breathing it in every time you got near me.” 

She still remembered how its heat had filled her sinuses as Joon had stood breathing on her in that pool under the starry night sky.  She shivered as she recalled the intimacy of that memory.

“I know.  That’s why I brought them tonight.”

“It is?”

“Mmhmm.”

A flirtatious smile curved his lips as he leaned towards hers again.  After a few blissful moments, he realized they were now leaving the lights of Busan far behind them.  He began to search the sky for his quarry.  After a few moments, he found it.

“Eunji, look up.  Right there.”  He slid his arm around her, drawing her near him until she was snug up against his side.  Then he lifted his finger and pointed towards a group of stars to their left.  “Follow the line of my finger,” he whispered huskily into her ear as he bent to brush his nose against her cheek. 

She smelled heavenly.  Like a field full of brightly blooming lavender.  He happily inhaled deeply before brushing his lips along her cheek.  She turned towards his mouth then.  He pulled back.

“No.  Look!”

“But you’re kissing me,” she responded with humor in her tone.

He grinned.  Eunji wasn’t the cold fish he’d once courted.  Under the bright rays of his love, she had warmed up to him.

“I know, but I want you to see these two stars.”

“What two stars?”

“Right there.”

She followed his finger and stared into an inky depth full of stars.  She began to laugh.  “Joon, there’s millions of stars at the tip of your finger.  How will I know which two I’m looking for?”

“They’ll be the two that are kissing.  The ones that will lead us home,” he murmured.

She turned to gaze into his eyes then.  Not that she could really see them.  It was very dark out here tonight.  Even the moon was hiding.  New moons didn’t really shed any light on the situation.

“Joon, what are you talking about?”

“I purchased you twin stars.”

“What?”

“Those two – right there.  Those stars belong to us.  I even got to name them.  The one on the left is Eunji and the one on the right is Joon.  I bought them for you.  Now you really do have a star with your name on it – and one with mine too – shining down on you.  Lighting your way home.”

Her eyes filled with tears as she stared into the darkness surrounding Joon.  She recalled the words she’d spoken to him over a decade ago now.

“I know – somewhere up there – there’s a star with my name on it.  A sign that God has not forgotten me.  That His eyes follow me wherever I go.  Whatever I do.  However I hurt.  Someday, I’ll find it.  And it will light my way home.”

It was those words that had caused Joon to invite her into the pool.  Into the intimate circle of his breath.  Within the light embrace of his arms.  Where Eunji had found her home.

Now he had possessed the thoughtfulness to make those words true.  She gazed up at a star named Eunji.  Whose twin was now named Joon.  Then she turned towards her true home star and lifted her lips to brush them against his own.

“Eunji,” he whispered.  “You are still a stunning beauty.  By starlight.  In daylight.  It still doesn’t matter.  No matter where you are, you shine like a brilliant star.”

“So do you, Joon.  So do you.”

The stars were the only ones who witnessed their passion that night as Namjoon embraced his wife with joy.